It's hard to say whether Zhao Xu wants to go to heaven or not, but the Queen Mother of Xixia definitely wants to go to heaven.

In the first year of Feilong, not long after the new year began, the Queen Mother of Xixia staged a palace drama.

She directly ordered the Xixia leader Li Bingchang to be placed under house arrest.

The news reached Bianliang, Tokyo as soon as possible, but Zhang Fei was not surprised at all.

Because for the Empress Dowager Liang, she now has no way out. Because she banned trade with the Song Dynasty, more and more people turned to the Song Dynasty. You must know that it was the Song Dynasty that threatened Xixia with trade. It can be seen that Xixia

There was a greater need for trade with the Song Dynasty, so the people, merchants, and some village owners along the border of Xixia were very opposed to the order of the Empress Dowager Liang.

In fact, the Empress Dowager Liang knew very well that this was wrong, but she had no choice, because after Li Bingchang took office, she had been using close officials to create public opinion in the court, restore Han rituals, and make good friends with the Song Dynasty, but she was a Han woman.

, can only take more urgent and extreme measures.

But it seems that more and more people are supporting their country's leader for their own interests, and the border is becoming more and more chaotic.

If things continue like this, Li Bingchang is very likely to use this matter to regain his power.

The only way is to break up the relationship first and put the emperor under house arrest to ensure his own power. In this way, he can negotiate with the Song Dynasty more independently in diplomacy without being involved in internal affairs.

In other words, I just need to stabilize the internal affairs first, and then we can open up the discussion, and that makes sense.

But now I have to bite it no matter what.

However, her move shocked the whole country, and also made the chiefs and merchants who had secretly traded with the Song Dynasty know that they had no way out. If they did not go against it, they would definitely be liquidated by the Empress Dowager Liang, so they directly sent someone to contact Wang Shao.

Zhong Er expressed his willingness to surrender to the Song Dynasty.

After Zhao Xu learned the news, he immediately held a key meeting.

Chui Gong Hall.

"According to what Wang Shao and Zhong E said, many chiefs in the border states are determined to rebel against the Empress Dowager Liang and surrender to the Song Dynasty. This is an excellent opportunity to eliminate Xixia!"

Wang Anshi was very moved by this.

This is really an excellent opportunity. Nowadays, the national power of the Song Dynasty is not what it used to be, and there is such a big civil strife in Xixia. It really takes advantage of the right time, place and people.

Wen Yanbo said: "But our spies in Xixia and Liao have also confirmed that in the second half of last year, the Queen Mother of Xixia secretly sent envoys to Liao twice.

Without the support of the Liao Kingdom, the Queen Mother of Xixia would not dare to do this. They must have reached some kind of agreement. Once we send troops to Xixia, the Liao Kingdom will most likely take advantage of it."

Lu Huiqing said: "Since Xixia has surrendered to the Liao Kingdom, if we wait until the Queen Mother of Xixia completes the internal rectification, it will definitely pose a greater threat to our country."

Wen Yanbo said: "Of course we can't let go of the opportunity, but we have already planned to use merchants to secretly send troops, build forts, and assist them in their defense, so that we can have enough soldiers and horses to defend the Liao Kingdom. As long as we do not march on a large scale,

The Liao Kingdom may not even dare to go south."

Wang Anshi said: "Although this strategy is feasible, it may not be able to defend it. The Queen Mother of Xixia will definitely send a large army to suppress the rebellious generals and village owners. If she does not send the main force in, how can she stop them?"

Wen Yanbo stroked his beard and asked Zhao Xu: "Your Majesty, this battle is related to the fate of the country. A commander should be appointed to take charge of the overall situation."

Zhao Xu nodded and said: "I want to appoint Wang Shao as the commander-in-chief of the three armies. After all, he once used the same tactics to capture the Hehuang area, and he is very familiar with the local situation."

Wang Anshi immediately said: "I also think Wang Shao is the best candidate."

Wen Yanbo hesitated slightly, but after thinking over and over again, he said: "Your Majesty, you don't trust the people you employ, and you don't use the people you doubt. If you appoint Wang Shao as commander-in-chief, you must trust him, and you can't make the same mistakes as before."

He said it very euphemistically, but in fact it was an allusion to the emperor not to give random orders, and not to follow the example of his predecessors and control the battle situation.

He also knew that this opportunity was rare, but the Liao Kingdom was watching eagerly. If he was too aggressive, the Liao Kingdom might take advantage of it, but if he was too conservative, he might miss the opportunity.

We can only appoint a commander and let him make a decision based on the situation on the front line.

This kind of battle situation is difficult to control remotely.

Zhao Xu nodded and said: "Now that the reform has been successful, there is no need to do this. If you don't have any objections, I plan to appoint Wang Shao as the general manager of the three marches in Guanxi, Longyou and Hedong."

When Sima Guang heard this, he felt a little panicked. He wanted to say that this is not the system of our dynasty, but then he thought about it. The previous reform of the official system followed the Tang system. Although it was finally changed to the four different ones, this is what the slogan was after all.

The Grand Controller of the Marching Army is quite reasonable.

Wen Yanbo did not object and said: "Your Majesty can order Wang Shao to act according to the opportunity and decide how many main forces to send in. However, it is not appropriate to declare war, let alone advance rashly. We should proceed step by step, focusing on building camps and defense, and encroaching on Xixia's territory. We only need to

By using this battle to weaken Xixia, we can win the final victory, and there is no need to launch a large-scale attack."

Zhao Xu nodded and looked at Wang Anshi and the others.

Of course Wang Anshi and others agree.

In fact, they were worried that the conservatives were too weak to attack and missed the opportunity, but they believed in Wang Shao very much, and Wang Shao would definitely not let Xixia go.

After the meeting, Zhao Xu immediately went to a small attic nearby, where Zhang Fei was already waiting.

"Your Majesty, they didn't quarrel, did they?"

Zhang Fei asked.

Zhao Xu shook his head and said: "Gong Wen's idea is the same as ours, but he thinks this policy is too conservative and is worried about delaying the fighter plane. However, when I decided to appoint Wang Shao as the general manager of the march, he no longer objected."

Zhang Fei breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good."

Zhao Xu frowned and said: "What I am most worried about now is the Northern Dynasty. According to the news, the Northern Dynasty must have reached an agreement with the Queen Mother of Xixia, but I don't know what they are planning. Will they send troops directly, or will they wait until the Queen Mother of Xixia calms down the internal affairs and then negotiate with them?"

They may send troops together, or they may just put pressure on our country to make the Queen Mother of Xixia equalize the civil strife."

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Although the country's strength is growing, he is still very worried if fighting on two fronts at the same time.

Zhang Fei consoled him: "Your Majesty, we have tried our best to avoid fighting on two fronts, and even businessmen have taken advantage of it. However, this is a matter of people and God. In the end, the final initiative is in the hands of the Liao Kingdom."

of.

However, with our current national strength, I am confident that we can stop the Liao Kingdom before launching a full-scale attack on Xixia."

Zhao Xu nodded.

Zhang Fei didn't say anything more. Not only Zhao Xu, but also most of the ministers in the court had a fear of the Liao Kingdom, which could not be eliminated without going to war.

...

The next day, Zhao Xu sent fast horses to convey his appointment to Xizhou. To be on the safe side, he even sent fast horses to Yanzhou, Suizhou and other northwest border states to let them accept Wang Shao's command.

Although Zhang Fei had already said hello before when he went there, after all, these three marching generals appeared for the first time in the Song Dynasty, and Zhao Xu was worried that the generals would not understand.

At the same time, the troops in Hebei were ordered to enter a state of combat readiness, including most of the royal police.

...

The highest royal court.

"Xueshi Wang, Third Secretary, do you still have time to come to my place for tea?"

Zhang Fei looked at Wang Anshi and Xue Xiang and said with a smile.

Wang Anshi smiled and said: "Of course we are not here to drink tea."

"That is...?"

"Is such that."

Xue Xiang immediately said: "Now we have to be fully prepared, and the same is true for finances, but things are not what they used to be. In addition, our country has not declared war yet, so it is not appropriate to recruit laborers. We can only spend money to hire people."

To transport grain and fodder, we still don’t know how long this war will last and how large it will be.”

Zhang Fei said: "Increase taxes?"

Xue Xiang hesitated a little.

Wang Anshi said: "We have not yet reached the point of raising taxes. We want to issue debt similar to salt bonds to ensure that the national treasury is always full, so that we can deal with the crisis in the north."

Zhang Fei nodded and said: "This is feasible. I actually don't agree with increasing taxes. The more times like this, the more important it is to take care of internal affairs. If taxes are increased, it will cause dissatisfaction among the people. I just don't know how much you plan to issue."

debt?"

Wang Anshi said: "Ten million strings."

Zhang Fei said: "That's a little too much."

Wang Anshi said: "Hezhong Mansion can issue one million guan, so how can the imperial court issue 10 million guan too much?"

Zhang Fei said: "The Hezhong Mansion issued a million guan, which was entirely supported by the salt pond, and when the debt matures, it must be repaid with interest. The key is to issue so much, and businessmen don't dare to do so."

purchase."

Wang Anshi said: "That's why we came to you to find a solution."

Xue Xiang added: "Issuing this kind of debt is also to protect tax coins. Once news of war comes, people may sell off tax coins and try to keep copper coins, because they will worry about the imperial court issuing banknotes indiscriminately to supplement military expenditures."

Zhang Fei frowned, "This is really a problem. Debt alone may not be enough to reassure the people. It will also make the people think that the court has no money, triggering even more panic selling."

Xue Xiangdao: "Then how do you think we should keep the tax coins?"

Zhang Fei said: "The third envoy must prepare enough reserves of copper coins and silk cloth, and at the same time recover some tax coins."

Wang Anshi said: "At present, the imperial court is using money. How to recover tax coins?"

Although they are all first-rate geniuses, they are still a little unsure of how to operate this kind of legal paper currency in a war since it was just released.

Zhang Fei pondered for a while and said: "This can only rely on the three major Jiekupu."

Wang Anshi asked: "How?"

Zhang Fei said: "First of all, it's definitely not possible to pay so much money at once. It needs to be paid for at least three years. It's still time. They only need to pay back three to four million yuan every year. With the current financial situation, they are more assured."
To be continued...